This is how the analysts of the Swiss national team study Italy’s players

It would be no surprise if Kevin Ehmes knew how accurate the passing of every Italian national player was between the 61st and 75th minute or how quickly the ball was processed in the final phase of a match. Perhaps Ehmes even knows when the Squadra Azzurra drinks their last espresso before a game.

Ehmes is responsible for game analysis and game development at the Swiss Football Association (SFV) and is the chief analyst for the national team. On Wednesday afternoon, he is sitting in a beer garden below the television tower in Stuttgart, near the Swiss European Championship team hotel, and talking about his work. His days are long, and some nights he only sleeps four or five hours.

Since Monday evening, the national team has known that it will face Italy in the round of 16 on Saturday. Since then, Ehmes has been watching the Italians’ games. He evaluates data, studies systems and running routes, analyses the strengths, weaknesses and playing style of each individual footballer. He watches five Italian matches again in full length, and he also uses extensive platforms for statistics, scouting and game analysis.

The data revolution has long since taken hold in football. There are hours of video clips about players, even if they come from the most remote corners of the world. “The range is huge,” says Ehmes. But one thing is also clear: “A football match is not won on a laptop. It’s about minimizing mistakes with the best and most precise preparation possible.”

Outstanding values ​​from Dan Ndoye and Fabian Rieder

Ehmes is coordinating the SFV’s game analysis at the European Championships. He has a team at his disposal for this. Two specialists are directly with the team, two more work meticulously in the background. In addition, five youth coaches are out and about as opponent observers. The laptops that were recently stolen from SFV scouts in Düsseldorf did not contain any secret information.

Ehmes communicates closely with the coaching staff, and the footballers are given compressed information in 15 to 30 minute video analyses. Ehmes and his team also use drones to film every Swiss training session, evaluate it, and check the fitness of each individual player, with one of the many key figures being particularly important: the quality of the high-intensity actions.

Unsurprisingly, the young Dan Ndoye and Fabian Rieder are among the best in this category. In the preliminary round, in the 1:1 draw against Scotland, Ndoye covered over half a kilometre at full sprint and set a top speed of 35.6 km/h.

The analysts also rely on AI

The Swiss team’s tactical performance against Germany was excellent for a long time, says Ehmes. The late goal could have been prevented if David Raum had been attacked more consistently before his cross and the spaces had been occupied better. In the middle, it was very difficult to prevent Niclas Füllkrug’s header. “At this level, details are crucial. If a player moves a meter too little on the halfway line, that could have been the decisive mistake a few seconds later.”

Artificial intelligence is now also used in game analysis; the SFV is working with ETH Zurich in the field of automatic game phase recognition.

The question, however, is: How much analysis is too much?

Ehmes smiles. In the end, it’s also about not overtaxing the players. He puts an interactive version of the opponent analysis in the national team’s group chat. For example, every Italian player is presented in detail there, and it can also be about which foot the ball is received with, which is valuable information when pressing. Before the games, there are also several tablets in the Swiss dressing room on which the players can refresh their knowledge after the starting line-up is announced.

Italy in 3-4-2-1? Where does Barella play? Questions upon questions

Ehmes is German and was born in Frankfurt. In 2014, he celebrated Germany’s World Cup title at a public viewing in the Frankfurt Arena, and on Sunday he was delighted with the 1-1 draw against the European Championship hosts in the same stadium. The 32-year-old came to Switzerland with his parents as a boy, grew up in the canton of Zug, and played football himself. He later studied sports science, worked in game analysis for various companies, completed parts of the coaching training, came into contact with the SFV ten years ago, and has been a permanent member of the association since 2018.

These days, Ehmes and his team are trying to examine Italy’s game. Will the Italians play in a 3-4-2-1 system? What impact would that have? What position will key player Nicolo Barella occupy? In which transition moments are the wingers particularly vulnerable?

Such questions – many, many.

In the preliminary round, the Swiss managed to surprise their opponents. Hungarian coach Marco Rossi even admitted that he had been outcoached by the move to put Michel Aebischer on the left in the build-up and to let him play very variably. German national coach Julian Nagelsmann also praised the Swiss’ clever performance. According to Ehmes, the fact that striker Kwadwo Duah was unexpectedly in the team for the 3-1 win against Hungary was the result of extensive analysis. “We have been observing Duah for a long time and knew that he could keep Hungary’s defenders busy with his deep runs.”

An interesting idea for Widmer’s replacement

There are three phases of the game that are particularly important to the Swiss. Roughly speaking, it’s about the way they behave in attack and defense, as well as the transitions between the areas. “At the European Championships, we have significantly less possession of the ball than in the qualification,” says Ehmes. “That affects all aspects.”

Kevin Ehmes says that national coach Murat Yakin is always open to technical aids, even during a game, and is not a gambler, as is often said. “He has a quick grasp of things, his tactical understanding is outstanding, and his decisions are based on clear considerations.”

Yakin studies the analyses on a tablet, by the way. In this sense, he is not a laptop coach, but an iPad coach. The coach could also pull off a tactical surprise in the Italy game, perhaps in the right wing position, because Silvan Widmer is suspended. We hear that there is an interesting idea – also thanks to scouting, analyses and data collection.